Secrets is a series of novels by Melody Carlson the multigenre author best known for writing young adult fiction. Carlson has sold more than 6.5 million copies of her novels spread over more than 200 titles in the children, women and young adult genres. While she has written hundreds of novels she loves to think of herself as a storyteller. Carlson likes to write on serious themes such as schizophrenia and rape to lighter themes such as house flipping. For many of her novels, she asserts that most of her inspiration comes from her real life experiences. While she has written novels in many genres, it is in the young adult/teen genre that she has really come into her won, gaining fans all across the world. For her writings she has won many prestigious …show more content…
The novels talk about a range of issues from disobeying parents, drugs, teenage pregnancies and rape that many young adult novel do not deal with. Her protagonists are typically tough kids who undergo some of the most difficult challenges in their lives but refuse to bow out. In the midst of all their problems, they often turn to God to find a solution that enables them to muddle through and grow to become stronger. The leads often find that when they believe that they are down and out, God will always send them someone to guide or encourage them through whatever they may be going through. A significant theme that Melody addresses in her Secrets series is the fact that teens may blame themselves for things that may be beyond their control. She asserts that in some instances it is impossible to control people and circumstances and that people are better off controlling themselves. Carlson eloquently addresses sensitive issues by being entertaining and spiritual without sounding preachy. While the novels are not linked in plot or character overlap, they are all about secrets that weigh down teens and how they work to reestablish relationships with their family, friends and …show more content…
Being a teenager and all, Adele wishes that her mother could have been the normal mom as she is tired of all the disruptions the illness brings in her life. Her mother has a college degree in one of the most sought after fields in the State and would earn good money if she could hold down a job. But her hopes of one day living a normal life are shattered when she comes home one evening to find her mother had abandoned her and disappeared with her latest boyfriend. Adele had worked hard to paint herself as one of the cool kids in school and all of that is now in danger of crumbling. She cannot afford the rent but even worse she cannot imagine losing all the cool friends she has made, particularly the Jude Law look alike Jayden. She keeps up the pretense after getting a low paying job but she knows it will not be enough. Her fears come true when she comes home to find an eviction notice pinned ion her door and the locks changed. Homeless at seventeen all she has to turn to is God. But will he listen to her and does he even care for one that has never believed in him
While she might think that her plans are working, they only lead her down a path of destruction. She lands in a boarding house, when child services find her, she goes to jail, becomes pregnant by a man who she believed was rich. Also she becomes sentenced to 15 years in prison, over a street fight with a former friend she double crossed. In the end, she is still serving time and was freed by the warden to go to her mother’s funeral. To only discover that her two sisters were adopted by the man she once loved, her sister is with the man who impregnated her, and the younger sister has become just like her. She wants to warn her sister, but she realizes if she is just like her there is no use in giving her advice. She just decides that her sister must figure it out by
Sasha Dawn’s Oblivion is about Calliope Knowles a 16 year old girl who has a compulsion to write which is also known as graphomania. Calliope’s compulsion to write was brought on by the disappearance of her father the reverend of the Holy Promise church, and a young girl from the church Hannah Ryne’s, as it gets closer to the anniversary of the disappearance Calliope starts to write and remember more of the night. This book is enjoyable because it doesn’t just focus on Calliope’s urges to write it also looks into her past before the night she was found in an abandoned apartment writing “I killed him” on the walls, the book also goes into detail about her foster family and her relationship with her friends.
Her struggles are of a flower trying to blossom in a pile of garbage. Growing up in the poor side of the southside of Chicago, Mexican music blasting early in the morning or ducking from the bullets flying in a drive-by shooting. Julia solace is found in her writing, and in her high school English class. Mr. Ingram her English teacher asks her what she wants out of life she cries “I want to go to school. I want to see the word” and “I want so many things sometimes I can’t even stand it. I feel like I’m going to explode.” But Ama doesn’t see it that way, she just tells, Julia, she is a bad daughter because she wants to leave her family. The world is not what it seems. It is filled with evil and bad people that just want to her hurt and take advantage of
The article “Dirty Little Secret” is based on African American slaves and ex- slaves who during the American Revolution left their masters to become part of the war and fight on behalf on the British. These people fought for the British with the hope that British would stick to their promise and give them their freedom if they agreed to fight on the side of the British. The picture painted to these people wing free was that the chances of being free with the British were better than that of America. The Dirty Little Secret emphasizes on how the black Patriots and Loyalists either fought for or against America in pursuit of freedom..
The topic of whether it is in the nature of living beings to be naturally good has been examined by several authors throughout previous centuries, for example, Susan Griffin. Using a humanistic perspective, Griffin’s chapter, “Our Secret”, from her book, A Chorus of Stones, approaches this topic and can reflect on her own life and feelings using other people’s stories about fears and their secrets. Combining her personal life stories, Himmler’s life narrative, as well as two sub stories, Griffin’s chapter allows characters to represent human emotions and emphasize the hidden feelings of living beings. Similarly, Plato’s dialogue, Phaedrus, and Franz de Waal’s, The Ape and the Sushi Master, talk about the topic of living beings being naturally
Careful He Might Hear You, by Sumner Locke Elliot, is a complicated novel, revolving around the story of a six year old boy named PS and his search for personal identity amidst the conflicts of his closest relatives. The narration of these conflicts, as well as the history behind their origins, forms the basis of the novel, and while the different types of relationships between the characters are not the main focus of the novel, the author links them with each of the characters’ sense of identity and their personal desires. Careful He Might Hear You is a book about people finding their true identities, and the truth or imbalance of the relationships that result from this. Through comparison and contrast, Sumner Locke Elliot highlights the flaws in each of the relationships presented, and the ramifications these have on the individuals involved; their present lives and their probable futures.
... woman who comes from a very rich family. She has plenty of friends and money and she is a good student at Julliard, a school for music. Andrea is not satisfied with what she has and yearns for more. She wants to find out who Goddard is and steal all his money. Just when she has almost fulfilled her dream, she is shot, and left without even her life.
... early age, Grace is forced to become independent to care for herself and her family. She is the main support for the family, and therefore develops motherly and protective characteristics which are also evident in her later relationships in life. The formation of murderous emotions in Grace as a survival mechanism also occurs during childhood and continues to plague Grace’s thoughts as she grows older. Alias Grace makes it obvious that early childhood is a vital period of time for an individual’s development. This period of time can drastically change a person’s character as people are easily influence at younger ages. Therefore, instead of treating children as inexperienced and unknowledgeable beings, they should be regarded as easily moldable blank slates with unlimited adaptability.
Also frustrated with her suggested place in American society, Georgia Douglass Johnson, over-shadowed by her male counterparts, published several poems during the Harlem renaissance, which exposed the struggles faced by women of color, in what is often categorized as aa golden age for African Americans. Her works are a testament to her own struggle, as a female African American writer in the first half of the century. Although Johnson graduated in 1896, from Atlanta University, she did not publish her first poem until 1916, at the age of 36. This is partially due the gender expectations, that kept her geographically removed from the major literary circles of her day, which were in Harlem. Due to her marriage to Washington lawyer Henry
The promotional posters and theatrical trailers helped generate anticipation and excitement for the movie leading up to its release as the trailer opened with a large, bold, scrolling “The Outstanding Book of the Year becomes the Most Talked about Movie in the Nation” where major words that could help fill in the mood are italicized, while dramatic scenes, such as Cassie running to Parris or simply watching Cassie behave frantically while at home. “Secrets” is a concept that was exploited on Kings Row posters; this represents how essential they were to both the plot ...
When we read and watched the movie “The Secret Path” illustrated by Jeff Lemire and sang by Gord Downie I found the story thought provoking. The story was about a 129-year-old boy named Chanie Wenjack who was forced out of his home to attend a residential school. Chanie found that the schools were a horrifying and confusing experience, just like the other 150,000 First Nation and Indigenous children who were forcedto face the Residential School System. Chanie attended the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School for three years until one day, at the age of 12, he saw his chance and ran away with two of his friends, Ralph and Jackie Macdonald. They ran 50 miles to get to Ralph and Jackie's uncle Kelly and
...nt from what she wants. Amanda’s life is focused on her children’s happiness because she doesn’t want them to make the same mistakes that she did. This, however, is just an illusion because they will never be what she wants them to be. By trying harder to set them on the right path, she pushes herself even deeper into her illusion. “Go to the movies, go! Don’t think about us, a mother deserted, an unmarried sister who’s crippled and has no job! Don’t let anything interfere with your selfish pleasure! Just go, go, go-to the movies!”(p.136) By reliving her life, Amanda failed to realize that the personalities of her children were completely different from her own. As a result of her illusions, Amanda drove her son away and hurt herself and the others around her.
who wanted to enter her life, she is left alone after her father’s death. Her attitude
The Secret written by Rhonda Byrne in November 2006, which remained the bestseller of New York Times for about 190 weeks and it was named by USA today and remained one of the top 20 bestselling books of the past 15 years. Author Rhonda Byrne, like each of us, has been on her own journey of discovery. Along the way, she brought together a superb team of authors, ministers, teachers, filmmakers, designers, and publishers to bring forth The Secret to the world, and through her vision, bring joy to millions. Rhonda Byrne was born in 1945 in Melbourne, Australia. She is an Australian television writer and producer. She began her career as a radio producer before starting her career in television production. Her film The Secret released in 2006 took a very different direction and was viewed by millions of people across the world. Her film’s DVD sold throughout the world and over 2 million copies were sold. She also followed her book The Secret a worldwide bestseller which is available in 50 different languages and over 20 million copies were printed.
In the story this young mother is pictured as a careless and weak woman who barely pays attention to her children and the people who take most part of the mother’s responsibility is everybody else in the house. In the story the two boys realize that their mother is different from other mothers because she does not act like the rest of their friend’s mothers who care about their children. The problem keeps escalating because the mother’s parents keep putting pressure on her so that she can dedicate more time to her children. I noticed that things were a little different when she invited her boyfriend to the house to have dinner with her children, a true family moment in my opinion if you ask me. At this point I come to the realization that she wants to have a family like she once did. The young mother then enters a great depression after Max and her end the relationship and that drives her to take her life